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WEEDC Media Release

Windsor-Essex County, Ontario - Friday, April 11, 2014 - The Windsor-Essex Small Business Centre is pleased to once again offer the Summer Company program to Windsor-Essex students.

The Summer Company program is an exciting opportunity for full-time students, 15 to 29 years old, to explore entrepreneurship hands-on. Summer Company is administered by the Small Business Centre (SBC) in partnership with the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Employment.

Last year 15 students from the region were approved into the program representing 4 high-school students and 11 post-secondary students from the region. The entrepreneurs included an author of a book for youth, a headlight restoration specialist and a website designer for small businesses, and others.

Applying for Summer Company is a competitive process as space is limited and the program reaches capacity quickly. Students who are accepted receive up to $1,500 to put towards the costs to start and run their own summer business. A second award of up to $1,500 is available to the students upon successful completion of the program.

Summer Company students will attend a bi-weekly mentoring session that provides the students with hands-on business coaching, training and mentoring from volunteer community members willing to support the students with their business ventures. The mentors are professionals with business experience in marketing, web development, sales accounting and overall business operations. The sessions will take place at the SBC offices in Windsor and in Essex.

Sandra Pupatello, CEO of the WindsorEssex Economic Development Corporation said, “The small business centre has administered the Summer Company program in the Windsor-Essex region for over ten years. It’s wonderful to see previous participants continue to operate their businesses while going to school with some making their business into their full time career after completing their post-secondary education. Each year we have previous participants returning to provide mentoring support – this is a very powerful message for the new students on how they can turn their vision into a reality.”